Plug-and-play ingredients from upcycled side streams
Many valuable raw materials end up as side streams in food manufacturing plants. For manufacturers, these often unavoidable by-products require expensive handling and disposal. High volumes of untapped resources go to waste in this way.
Danish Agrain is on a mission to turn waste into value. Using a patented process, the young enterprise upcycles plant-based side streams into innovative powder ingredients that utilise all raw materials. They can even replace some of the conventional ingredients in food production – saving costs and creating a big circular win for business.
From side streams to ingredients
The process is designed to handle highly variable side streams, including spent grain from breweries and discards from juice, coffee and oat drink production. Food safety and the consistent taste, nutrition and quality of the upcycled ingredients are priorities to ensure their easy integration in existing food production lines.
Easy to use and lower impact
Upcycling is at its best when the solutions are plug-and-play. Agrain’s spent grain ingredients can, for example, partly replace regular flour in a wide range of baked foods, pasta, and snacks. For every kilo of regular flour replaced, average two square metres of land normally used for flour production are saved, as no new grains need to be grown. Water, CO2 emissions, are fertiliser and pesticide use are also reduced in the same way.
For every kilo of regular flour replaced, average 2 m2 of land normally used for flour production are saved
Recognising the challenges facing cocoa production, Agrain has also developed a 100% upcycled replacement for up to 50 percent of the cocoa powder in a wide range of applications. Selected spent grain and cocoa bean shells are the upcycled raw materials.
Agrain is currently the only upcycling company in Europe with Upcycled Certified® status. A circular food system is the goal – in partnership with likeminded food industry players.
